Harakiri Reviews

(OK) Great storytelling in a suspension of life and death, in one in a lifetime film. Perfect plot points and two stories that adds to the end, real japanese misery and false chivalry...

I'm personally a big fan of stylized violence, you should always try to make ugly things beautiful. And this film certainly does do this. Definitely the best best non-Kurosawa Japanese film.

It’s getting quite irritating now with these Samurai Films, as I keep seeing new films which trump my last ‘best Samurai Film I’ve ever seen’ recommendation. While I still hold to the virtues of Sword of Doom and Samurai Rebellion, Harikiri is better on just about every level.

Essentially telling the story of how a conman Ronin was forced to commit Seppuku in the most horrific way possible (with suitably nasty demonstration of how to disembowel oneself with a bamboo sword), Harikiri is a full forced attack on the notion of Samurai honour.

The story, largely told in flashback, is delivered by a half starved and haggard ronin named Hanshiro Tsugamoto (played with a wonderful melachonly by Tatsuya Nakadai). Originally appearing as if he just wants to commit suicide on the ground of the Iyi Clan it soon becomes apparent that he has a vested interest in the forced suicide. What emerges is a battle between humanism and the samurai code as Tsugamoto attempts to explain what drove the young ronin to sell his swords and attempt to con the clan.

Beautifully filmed and staged Harikiri is chock full of graceful moments which really cement Kobayashi as one of Japan’s best directors. The few action scenes, while not spectacular in a traditional sense, have a wonderful sense of realism and vitality to them.

Just a wonderful movie.

This movie is as gorgeous as is gritty and that´s a great plus for me. It brings back to life a very interesting era in the japanese history (although, I must admit, one that has been shown in many movies) and treats it with respect in a disrespectful way. I´ll try to explain this: it´s like thinking of all the stupid things that your old buddies did when you were young with all the love for them. The samurai code is depicted as it really was instead as a romantic remembrance of it. In the main character´s words: "[...] this thing we call samurai honor is ultimately nothing but a facade."

It´s an anti-stablishment movie as well. The samurai code and the shogunate structure betrays nearly a whole generation of the low-nobility. They were raised and prepared to execute a duty and maintain the highest level of cultural and moral decorum possible but the weather changes (for better, mind you) and they find themselves dispensable, useless and plain broke. They cant work as lowmen but they cant serve as samurai either.

Returning to the movie itself it's a great character study first and a gritty drama second. The center of the story is the development that the main characters, the good guys, have to endure. Here I find one of the first little problems as I think that the way the change from their old proud shelf to desperation is not worked enough but it´s there. Anyway the main cast show a great thespian work. Tatsuya Nakadai´s work is one of the best in the movie but overall there´s not a bad actor here.



The characters are interesting though limited. The only ones with some complexity are Tsugumo and Chijiiwa, the first more than the second. The way Nakadai treats his grandson, his desperation, his guilt and his determination through the movie makes him one of the greatests heroes in the history of film´s vengeances. Even his character is somewhat restricted and simple, though, and the rest of them tend to be even more monocromatic than the black and white the movie was shot in. This works magnificiently here so it´s not really a problem but I wonder if a bit more complexity in some characters (for example the main antagonist, the karo in who´s house so many people want to suicide) wouldn´t have helped.

I´ll talk about some problems that do exist although they are not really that bad. One of them is the pace and lenght of the movie. It´s a slow movie where the tension builds up nicely cooking it on a low flame. It´s not a movie where you should just wait for the climax to come since the moment you decide that you hate the bad guys (that happens near the beginning and you have a long hour and a half before the blood cries havoc). If you dont enjoy the backstory and tension throughout the movie you will grow bored soon. Even if you aren´t just waiting for the climax to come I feel the movie lingers too much before chaos breaks loose. There are more than one scene that felt too long even though there´s no one that isn´t necessary.

The second problem, one that it´s just too obvious to ignore even if it´s not important, it´s the unplausability of the action. When swords shine and blood is finally shed there is more than one moment where you can´t believe what you are watching even if you try to enforce all your suspension of disbelieve strenght. It´s really a problem? I dont find it so bad but it´s a problem. The focus is in the beauty and intensity of the shots not in the credibility of the swordmanship. There are some really intense, gorgeous, moments while they fight but the actual fight get´s in the way.



One of the best aspects of the movie is the beauty and quality of the camerawork. The actors give life to intense characters but the way they are shot and lighted makes a great difference. One of the most beautifull moments of the movie is the main duel. It brings the spectators out of the main locations (80 % of the scenes in the movie are shot in 3 rooms) and that gives it a special magic as if you were watching something sureal. They walk through a 'crowded' cementary and a bamboo forest to a windy hill where they fight as if they weren´t just people but godly heroes. The intesity of the wind in the hills transforms the not-so-good fighting scene in something way better, wilder and powerful.

This is really close to a masterpiece. They take an interesting premise, they add some twists that really work, a marvellous setting, some great actors very well directed and also bring some moral issues in the mix. It´s not easy to give such an universal edge to a movie so centered in a particular, and gritty, aspect of the old japanese culture.

A great, great, movie.

''The suspicious mind conjures its own demons.''

17th Century Samurai story told through clever flashbacks and storytelling thus capturing a fiery tale of revenge, deception and malice.

Tatsuya Nakadai: Hanshiro Tsugumo

Director Masaki Kobayashi, whom also conjured the masterful horror Kwaidan and epic Samurai Rebellion has yet again created another film of note. He has captured a story so great and immense, in such a way, that can only be described as simply mind-blowing. The piece in the lime light is Harakiri or Seppuku.
An effort and work that deserves praise and then yet even more. For 1962 the whole affair has a timeless feel and quality which easily surpasses and rivals any film maker in the present.



The story consists of being told through a multitude of flashbacks and clever narration. Harakiri is essentially a story within a story.
So in 17th Century Japan, we find the wars are over, it is a peaceful time where Samurai are finding it hard to attain work and funding. Many Samurai are succumbing to poverty and a grim fate. The only honourable alternative for some, is to commit harakiri or seppuku (Ritual suicide although Seppuku is death by disembowelment of the intestines) in certain feudal houses.
We the audience are shown elder warrior, Hanshiro Tsugumo, played magnificently by legendary favourite Tatsuya Nakadai, Hanshiro visits a Feudal Lord's house and asks to commit the act of seppuku.
There at the abode, he learns the fate regarding his son-in-law, a young samurai who had previously sought work at the house but was instead barbarically forced to commit traditional harakiri in an excruciating manner with a dull, blunt bamboo blade.
In flashbacks the samurai tells the tragic story of his son-in-law, and how he was forced to sell his real sword to support his sick wife and child.
Hanshiro Tsugumo thus sets in motion a tense showdown of revenge against the house...

''Swordsmanship untested in battle is like the art of swimming mastered on land.''

Harakiri profoundly entices audiences with expertly executed cinematography, close up shots, authentic costumes and locations, and expertly synchronized sounds, effects and music which compliment the frantic action played upon the contrasts that are the ambient scenes of tragedy and decaying struggle.
Masaki Kobayashi professionally lays a masterpiece at our feet that dazzles and dances before our eyes, that has the characters which make us angry or sad and that play upon our emotions by their consecutive acts.
Whether he shows us Hanshiro battling upon a windy plain with long grass, displayed with cinematography which holds no faults but stands as a beacon to the greatest art and beauty within the medium of film.
Whether he shows the tragic demise of Hanshiro's brother in law and he makes us feel his pain, and makes us feel fury and then sadness for the tragedy and death befalling the family.
The exchange of blades between our hero Hanshiro against many opponents is breath taking to behold and we cheer for him, we follow his movements in precise detail, just like we had followed his story being told throughout the film.
Kobayashi plays upon the audience with every slippery trick and spidery tendril at his disposal.
It all successfully solidifies, both, equaling an affirmed vengeance story laced with those old Greek tragedies from long ago, and also dually captures an age old problem which is poverty. Questions directed at tradition and lack of wealth in times of desperation for warriors with no purpose for their skills. Questions about honour and tradition, about respect and humility: A study which touches upon cruelty, about suspicion and doubt, and how plans can backfire when faced with unforeseen consequences.

Harakiri shows us a modern masterpiece from Japanese cinema which captures 17th Century Japan from the very pages of history. It has the revenge story and Samurai film with an alternative twisting and mutation towards the warped code of honour and then towards lies and secrecy. The samurai are shown to what lengths a feudal house will go to cover up its haunting mistakes, using a shroud of lies and deception to conceal the truth.

Some aspects of life require bravery and strength, while also holding a sense of honour and conduct higher than anything else. Harakiri or Seppuku shows the strength and bravery of one man fighting against many foes in the pursuit of truth and redemption for a lost loved one.

''What befalls others today, may be your own fate tomorrow.''